Three Cape Town Jewish schools unite

Three Cape Town Jewish schools: Phyllis Jowell Jewish Day School (PJJDS); Sinai Academy; and Cape Town Torah High (CTTH) have come together to create South Africa’s first Jewish internationally accredited school – the Jewish International School.

These Cape schools are accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges in the United States, offering global accreditation equivalent to the American International School of Cape Town.

“From a practical, educational, and communal point of view, it made good sense to strengthen each of our offerings and work together, pulling resources together to expand the school, rather than working in silos,” said Rebbetzin Zeesy Deren, the director of Sinai Academy, on behalf of all three schools.

It wasn’t an easy move for the schools to make, said Deren, taking “years of discussion and debate, Zoom meetings over the COVID-19 pandemic, and many meetings afterwards” to come to this leap of faith to proceed and overcome any obstacles.

“Each school had a great product on its own, but we thought it would be even better together as the only Jewish international school in South Africa with the highest level of a dual curriculum in Torah and general studies,” said Deren. “We felt it would be better for the community, the students, the families, the staff, and ultimately the future growth of this school to unify our schools. We also believe that it will also attract many more families to Cape Town.”

In 2018, CTTH and Sinai Academy decided to do their accreditation process together. “We felt it would be beneficial for the schools to officially and legally combine as one to gain a communal understanding of Torah education in Cape Town,” said Deren.

The accreditors visited PJJDS as well as CTTH and Sinai Academy. That visit sparked the idea for Sinai, CTTH and PJJDS to become one school officially.

In 2020, the directors of PJJDS approached Rabbi Dovid Wineberg, the chairperson of the CTTH board and asked if it would consider amalgamating the schools and discussions began.

Then, in 2024, the new wider board with representation from all three schools became the board of the Jewish International School of Cape Town, which brings the three schools together under one management system.

Deren said that though the three schools worked together informally for years, the move to unify is already showing great benefits for students, staff members, and parents.

“The families are benefiting from systemic family/children discounts. For example, multiple children on different campuses in primary and high schools are all seen as one family, as opposed to the past when it was a case of each campus on its own,” said Deren.

In spite of each school still operating from its respective campus – PJJDS in Camps Bay; Sinai Academy in Blouberg Rise; and CTTH in Gardens, the goal is to have a joint campus with the high school and junior school in one place.

“There’s some crossover when it comes to teachers,” said Deren, “but generally, each campus needs its staff and there isn’t extra capacity for sharing of teachers. Where there is capacity, it will be considered. There may be even more opportunity for this sharing of resources in certain areas, with a shared campus in the future, hopefully.”

The school has recently celebrated a family sports day and school-wide staff training afternoon so that all the teachers across the three schools could come together and share ideas and educational practices, find gaps, and possible solutions.

“This school embodies the unique beneficial trait socially and academically of having so many hashkafot (outlooks under one roof), and spans the spectrum of all Jewish streams,” said Deren.

“Students are welcomed from Mizrachi, Chabad, haredi, Sephardi, modern Orthodox, or traditional South African homes. Cape Town is a community which works towards working together, not in silos. The leadership of Cape Town is in favour of this amalgamation.”

In the case of Jewish Studies, the school accredits courses under its international accreditation. For secular studies, the school offers a high-level international exit matric, including the SAT – international college entrance exams, with accommodation for a Sunday versus Saturday sitting for Jewish students. “The fact that we’re internationally accredited raises our standards, benchmarked with international versus national, standards,” said Deren.

“We wanted to create a stronger environment in Cape Town for a Torah community to flourish. This amalgamation will have a positive impact and strengthen the school,” she said.